Migrants begin crossing Channel in small boats after judges ruled Rishi Sunak’s plan to send them to Rwanda was illegal
- Around 50 people pictured arriving in Dover accompanied by Border Force
- It comes after Court of Appeal ruled deportation deal with Rwanda was illegal
Migrants have been crossing the Channel in small boats after judges ruled Rishi Sunak’s plan to send them to Rwanda as part of an asylum scheme was illegal.
Images from Dover, Kent, show around 50 people being escorted ashore from small boats by Border Force agents after Court of Appeal judges ruled the deportation deal with the African country was unlawful.
Three judges agreed by a majority of two to one that Rwanda was not ‘a safe third’ country, putting a halt to plans to deport Channel migrants to the East African nation so they could claim asylum there.
The decision is a major blow to the Government’s flagship Illegal Migration Bill and its pledge of ‘stop the boats’.
As of Monday, 11,328 asylum seekers in 254 boats have made the perilous journey across the Dover Strait so far this year
Earlier today, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared to bat away calls for a ‘Plan B’ from some Tory ministers, should the plan continued to be blocked, and insisted he was ‘confident’ the Government would ultimately see victory in the Supreme Court.
Images from Dover, Kent, show around 50 people being escorted ashore from small boats by Border Force agents
People were helped ashore by border force agents in Dover, Kent, having crossed the Channel in small boats today
As of Monday, 11,328 asylum seekers in 254 boats have made the perilous journey across the Dover Strait so far this year
READ MORE: Rishi Sunak refuses to say if Rwanda migrant flights will take off this year as PM bats away Tory MPs’ calls for a ‘Plan B’ if courts continue to block ‘right and fair’ asylum scheme
Rishi Sunak today failed to say if the first migrant flights to Rwanda would take off this year following the latest legal block on the planned asylum scheme
Mr Sunak added that he ‘respects’ the Court of Appeal’s ruling but ‘fundamentally disagrees’ with it as he looks to overturn it at the UK’s highest court.
‘I strongly believe – and the Lord Chief Justice made clear that he agrees with this as well – that the Rwandans have provided all the assurances necessary’, he said.
‘There is no real risk that asylum seekers that are relocated under our policy will be wrongly returned to third countries. Rwanda is a safe country.’
Mr Sunak also highlighted how the UN’s refugee agency ‘use Rwanda for their own refugee scheme for Libyan refugees’.
‘Given all of that we’re going to seek permission to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court,’ he added.
‘I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the policy of this government is very simple.
‘It is your Government and it is not criminal gangs who should decide who comes here. It is a very simple point of view.
‘I’ll do what is necessary to make sure that that happens.
‘We will seek permission to appeal this case to the Supreme Court and we remain entirely confident that what we’re doing is right.’
Home Secretary Suella Braverman echoed the Prime Minister’s vow to appeal the ruling, and suggested the immigration system is ‘rigged against the British people’.
‘The system is rigged against the British people, it’s as simple as that’, she said.
‘It’s why we’re changing the laws through our Illegal Migration Bill, it’s why we’re rolling out a ground-breaking partnership with Rwanda which we believe is lawful, with a country which we believe is safe.
The PM believes the possibility of being sent to Rwanda to have an asylum claims processed will deter people from trying to reach the UK using small boats across the Channel
‘So, we need to change the system, we need to change our laws, that’s how we’re going to stop the boats.’
The Home Secretary also addressed the issue in the Commons, where she told MPs the current immigration is unfair and warned costs could rise to ‘£32m a day for people who have broken into this country’.
She added: ‘This is madness and it must end. That is why we on this side of the House are committed to doing whatever it takes to stop the boats.
‘The Government remains resolute that we will do exactly that in partnership with Rwanda and through changes to our law.
‘That is the only way we will break the business model of the people smugglers, that is the only way we will save lives, that is the only way we will stop the boats.’
She added: ‘The British people will no longer indulge the polite fiction that we have a duty or infinite capacity to support everyone in the world who is fleeing persecution, nor anyone that would simply like to come here to improve their lot and succeeds in making it to our shores.
A group of up to 80 migrants are brought ashore at Dover marine last week after crossing the English Channel
Rishi Sunak announced today that he ‘fundamentally disagrees’ with the Court of Appeal’s ruling and will seek permission to appeal it in the Supreme Court
Home Secretary Suella Braverman, pictured with Rwanda President Paul Kagame in March, and the PM are fighting a legal challenge against their migration deal with the African country
‘That abuse is unfair on local communities forced to absorb thousands of illegal arrivals and the pressure on public services and social cohesion that this entails.’
It comes after it was revealed the Home Office estimated taxpayers will save £106,000 for every migrant deterred from reaching the UK via the small boats.
An official analysis of the Government’s Illegal Migration Bill said the potential savings could reach £165,000 per person if hotel costs for would-be refugees continue to rise.
But the Impact Assessment also estimated it would cost £169,000 to deport someone denied asylum in Britain to another country such as Rwanda.
As a result, it concluded that more than one in three potential arrivals would have to be deterred from trying to cross the English Channel in order for the policy to break even.
The Government has consistently claimed the possibility of being sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket to have their asylum claims processed will deter people from trying to reach the UK using small boats across the Channel.
The Government now has until July 6 to ask the Supreme Court for permission to appeal the decision.
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